{"id":15564,"date":"2021-05-20T05:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T05:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15564"},"modified":"2021-05-20T19:09:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T19:09:40","slug":"watts-shady-rock-rollers-rum-bar-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15564","title":{"rendered":"Watts \u2013 \u2018Shady Rock & Rollers\u2019 (Rum Bar Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Having just completed Doug Brod\u2019s excellent \u2018They Just Seem A Little Weird\u2019 book, this third album for Rum Bar Records from Boston based rockers Watts couldn\u2019t have dropped in my review stack at any more appropriate moment.<\/p>\n

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Why?<\/p>\n

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Well just like Brod\u2019s book took me back to the magical days of discovering the likes of Cheap Trick, Starz, Aerosmith and KISS for the first time and making me go all gooey eyed in the process, this all new ten tracker celebrates that same glorious era of musical creativity whilst giving it an adrenalin booster shot just right for the 2020s.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Loud & Fast\u2019 kicks things off in fine style conjuring up a kind of Blackhearts meets Motorhead vibe with vocalist\/guitarist Dan Kopko\u2019s instantly recognisable gravelly roar front and centre hammering home the song\u2019s huge hook. \u2018Queens\u2019 is where the band\u2019s underlying KISS influence really does get turned up to eleven, and it\u2019s better than anything the New York glam veterans have written in the last four decades, plus it\u2019s delivered with a Judas Priest lyrical nod that has me grinning from ear to ear every time I hear it. This is how I want MY rock \u2018n\u2019 roll that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

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The other great thing about Watts is that three of the four members can sing lead, so when bassist Tim McCoy takes the microphone for \u2018Breaking Glass\u2019 this leaves Kopko to deliver some soaring Lizzy-esque duel harmony guitar with his counterpart John Blout, plus when drummer John Lynch delivers \u2018The Night The Lights Went Down\u2019 his cleaner vocal delivery lends this Black Crowesy roots rocker a more power-poppy sheen and band in the process offers up a potential breakthrough radio hit.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere \u2018Shady\u2019 would not sound out of place on a post-Bowie intervention Mott The Hoople album, whilst \u2018Heavy Metal Kids\u2019 has an instant \u201cin his prime\u201d (as in prior to 1985) Bryan Adams charm to it, that if this world has any justice to it will see it being sung in karaoke bars worldwide for decades to come, and I really do not mean that as a put down. Then there\u2019s the incredible \u2018Shocking Pink\u2019, a song Blout\/Kopko (who write seven of the ten tunes here) surely must have written whilst listening to Jellyfish, albeit here the glorious vocal hooks are all played out by a band who really are hooked on a Heartbreakers (Tom Petty version) trip rather than Supertramp and Wings.<\/p>\n

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And talking of breaking hearts, the sleazy Thunders\/Dolls vibe of \u2018Seventeen\u2019 is a hellraising, fag in the corner of the mouth kind of rocker driven along by some brass stabs that will have you straight up and stomping your creepers, and if you\u2019re looking for the perfect morning after soundtrack to counter that then \u2018When the Party Ends\u2019 is just what the doctor ordered for your hangover from hell (even if to my ears at least it\u2019s got a bit of Stereophonics thing going on). Which just leaves the only track on here that has been previously available, the prophetic and Cars-like \u2018All Done With Rock & Roll\u2019, which kind of takes us full circle, ensuring as the final chords chime out you just have to press play again.<\/p>\n

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The world needs \u2018Shady Rock & Rollers\u2019 like Watts right now, and believe me when I say you need this record in your life. \u00a0It\u2019s out now via Rum Bar Records and really is essential listening!!!!!<\/p>\n

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Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

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Facebook<\/a>\u00a0\/Twitter<\/a>\u00a0\/YouTube<\/a>\u00a0\/Rum Bar Records<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having just completed Doug Brod\u2019s excellent \u2018They Just Seem A Little Weird\u2019 book, this third album for Rum Bar Records from Boston based rockers Watts couldn\u2019t have dropped in my review stack at any more appropriate moment.   Why?   Well just like Brod\u2019s book took me back to the magical days of discovering the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6759,6405,293,1702,223,6760,4979,6758,183,6761,182],"class_list":["post-15564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-arena-rock","tag-boston","tag-classic-rock","tag-glam-rock","tag-power-pop","tag-punk-rock-roll","tag-rock","tag-rock-roll","tag-rum-bar-records","tag-vintage-rock","tag-watts","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15577,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564\/revisions\/15577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}